Top: Wearing bib No. 593, Viking cross country runner Finn Gerry, an eighth-grader, ran 2 minutes faster than he did last year at Milaca, finishing the 2-mile race in 13:38. Left: Sean MacDonell (No. 597) and Jake Peron (No. 598) were the Vikings’ third and fourth runners at Milaca, helping the boys’ team to a 14th place finish out of 27 teams. Above: Running strong, Alyssa Martinson finished the 4k varsity race in 18:06 at Milaca.
The Milaca MegaMeet, billed as the world’s largest cross country meet, is always one of the highlights of the Cook County- Two Harbors cross country team’s season. From the team dinner hosted by our Two Harbors teammates, to the overnight at Hinckley, the all-day meet at Milaca, the pizza dinner at Mora, and the long drive home, a lot of fun is packed into a little over 24 hours. And a lot of hard work.
Saturday was perfect for racing, cloudy and 50 at the start; clearing and warming to 60 in the afternoon. We arrived early to the music blaring and all the teams scrambling to set up their tents. With almost 5,000 athletes representing 135 teams, 10 of the top-rated teams in the state, and over 20 state-rated individuals, we don’t expect to bring home much prize hardware. The tremendous number of family, friends, teammates and competitors cheering the runners on and the talented fields in every race always result in a lot of top performances.
Our varsity boys’ team, led by senior Joey Chmelik, placed 14th among 27 teams in the Class AA division. (Milaca divides the normal A and AA classes into A through AAAA.) Like last year, Joey led the Vikings, placing 46th of 148 in a career best of 18:16 for the 5-kilometer race.
Eighth-grade star Kiv Hight was a short ways back for the Vikings, running 18:47. Jake Peron and Sean MacDonell were together in 19:24 and 19:25 respectively, with Pete Summers a short distance back in 19:47. Sophomore Will Seaton continued his improvement from last year, running 20:14, while Owen Cruikshank completed the varsity team with a time of 21:17.
Senior Audrey Summers, running almost 2 minutes faster than last year at 16:30 for 4 kilometers, got the Vikings’ highest place of the day – 35th, leading the girls’ varsity to a 15th-place finish in Class AA competition. Maya McHugh was next for the girls in 17:57, while Alyssa Martinson and Abi Seipke finished together in 18:06 and 18:10 respectively. Matea Acero continued her return to health with a fine 18:55 run. Ruby Walsberg and Mel Stoddard completed the Viking varsity team, running 19:20 and 20:19 respectively.
The Vikings fielded a complete fiveperson team in the 600 runner boys’ JV race. Everett Hommes led the boys with a 21:44 time in the 5K, a minute and a half improvement from last year. First-year runner Donovan Rigdon and Rusty Day ran together in 22:12 and 22:16 respectively. Sprinter Drew Christiansen hung on for a 22:03, while Roman Schnobrich opened his season with a 23:40.
Patricia Mueck led our JV girls with a fine 21:53 in the 4k race. Danielle Hansen had a great first time race at the 4K distance, running 22:57, as did Julia Larsen in 24:18.
Finn Gerry had a 2-minute improvement from last year in the 2-mile 8th grade race, running 13:38. Jake Bilben ran a solid 16:10, while Andy Kern ran a steady 17:47. Will Ramberg showed excellent promise in the 7th grade 2-mile race, running 14:59, while Lynden Blomberg was tough, running his first race in 17:30.
Coach Chris Hegg, who has a standing offer of a DQ Blizzard to any junior high racer who has a better 2-mile time than him, hung on for a 13:10 in the old timer’s race, to deny Finn. Gets harder every year!
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